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Museums Association

The collections at Kelham Island Museum cover industries in Sheffield from 1750 up to the present. Major collections include the Iron & Steel Industry Collection, Cutlery Industry Collection, Armament Industry Collection and the Tool Making Industry Collection. There are also collections of Historic Photographs and Documents relating to a variety of Sheffield firms. The library contains many technical metallurgical reference books and is available by appointment.

Collection details

Archives, Industry, Land Transport, Science and Technology, Social History, Trade and Commerce

Key artists and exhibits

Key objects on display include the Bessemer Converter and the 12,000 HP River Don Engine.

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (permanent)

Millowners Arms

1 November 2014 — 1 November 2018 *on now

This new gallery complete with a traditional bar celebrates Sheffield’s Brewing heritage, from being the biggest brewing city in the England to its numerous microbreweries of today.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

The Hawley Gallery

1 November 2014 — 1 November 2018 *on now

The Hawley Gallery opened in 2010 as the first permanent display space for the Hawley Collection.

This world-renowned tool collection has been amassed since the mid 1950s by former tool retailer and champion of Sheffield’s industrial heritage, Ken Hawley, and consists of over 100,000 objects, all relating to Sheffield’s tool, cutlery manufacturing and silversmithing industry.

The Ken Hawley Collection Trust LINK was formed in 1994 to safeguard the collection and Ken continues collecting and working with the collection - it is his life and his continuing passion.

This internationally important collection of over 100,000 objects includes edge tools, measuring tools, tools used for cutlery manufacture and silversmithing, plus related catalogues, photos, films and oral histories. It is gathered mostly from Sheffield and Yorkshire but also from Britain and the rest of the world.

Admission

Website

Transport Galleries

Showcasing some of the finest Sheffield-made vehicles of the 1920s, The Charlesworth Transport Gallery explores the story of transport in Sheffield and its essential part of our industrial history.

The development of factories and the "workshop of the world" was only possible as the transport network developed. Equally the development of the transport network was reliant on the technology of industry, particularly those in Sheffield.

Transport has played a vital role within Sheffield, both within its industries and for the city as a whole. As a major manufacturing centre, a good transport system was important to carry raw materials and goods in and out, as well as to transport workers and inhabitants around the city.

The upper transport gallery houses temporary exhibitions as well as the Sheffield Simplex Car. This is perhaps the most famous car made in Sheffield and it was produced at the Fitzwilliam Works in Tinsley.

The car was the idea of Earl Fitzwilliam, who thought Sheffield could produce the finest car in the world. This prototype is one of only three Simplex cars remaining, and is thought to be the last type of the car ever produced.

Outdoor Collection

The Gannister Mill was used to grind ganister rock, a type of sandstone, into a paste which was used to seal joints inside furnaces.

The Bessemer Converter is one of only three converters left in the world. It was used by the British Steel Corporation in Workington until 1975(4?) and produced the last Bessemer Steel made in Britain in 1974. It was brought to the Museum in 1978 as an example of the revolutionary steelmaking process which first took off in Sheffield.

1940s: Wartime Children

Living History Day for schoolsChildren travel back in time to wartime Sheffield. They will investigate the lives of real people and encounter the trials and tribulations of air raids, evacuations and life on the Home Front. They will experience sounds, songs, gas masks, and life under an Anderson Shelter.

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General enquiries

Education enquiries

Collection enquiries

Telephone

0114 272 2106

Fax

0114 275 7847

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.